The present invention relates to a seat elevation control apparatus for a vehicle and, more particularly, to a seat elevation for a vehicle in which a channel for supplying compressed air to an air spring installed on a pneumatic suspension is controlled to exhaust the air from the air spring when a driver gets off, thereby reducing a height of a seat so as to prevent a knee of the driver from impacting a steering wheel and to enable the driver to more easily get on or off.
A damping apparatus mounted on a lower portion of a seat of a vehicle is an apparatus that absorbs shocks transmitted to the seat while the vehicle travels on a road whose surface is uneven, and thereby keeps a height of the seat constant at all times.
The damping apparatus mounted on the lower portion of the vehicle seat is generally made up of upper and lower frames fixing the seat to a vehicle body, an X-shaped link connected between the upper and lower frames, an air spring mitigating shocks transmitted to the seat, and a shock absorber mitigate a vibration amplitude of the air spring.
The damping apparatus of the vehicle seat configured in this way absorbs and mitigates shocks occurring during traveling by means of the air spring and the shock absorber, thereby improving riding comfort to reduce a sense of fatigue in the driver.
However, since the air spring is always subjected to constant air pressure, the seat elevates together with the driver when the driver stands up in the seat, and thus the driver undergoes discomfort because his/her knee impacts a steering wheel.
To solve this problem, an apparatus for exhausting air in the air spring when the driver gets off to prevent the seat from elevating is disclosed in Korean Registered Utility Model No. 20-0293214.
The apparatus disclosed in Korean Registered Utility Model No. 20-0293214 is a seat downturn control apparatus for a car. Referring to FIG. 4 of Korean Registered Utility Model, the seat downturn control apparatus for a car is configured so that a button 11 is pivotably installed on one side of an upper frame 2, and includes a plunger 10c of a release valve 10 at a lower portion of the button 11 and a hook switch 14 catching a protrusion 12 at the lower portion of the button 11 to fix a pushed state of the button 11.
The seat downturn control apparatus configured in this way has drawbacks in that its structure is complicated, and that a wide space for installation is required because the button 11 and the hook switch 14 are independently installed on the upper frame 2, and additionally that a separate bracket is required for installation.